Topkapi Sarayi

Topkapi Sarayi's first structures were put up in the 15th century.  In the course of the next four centuries, the palace grew into a vest complex as additions were made.

Topkapi Sarayi was originally begun by Sultan Mehmed II not long after the conquest. The palace and its grounds occupy about 700,000 square meters of land on one of Istanbul's seven hills. For nearly four centuries, Topkapi was both the residence of the sultans and the seat of government power. The grandiloquence that is characteristic of classical Ottoman mosque architecture is absent to a surprising degree in the palaces and residences of the same period and nowhere is this more evident than at Topkapi where clusters of buildings were placed in a park-like setting and new additions were made over the centuries as circumstances required. As a result, one can find examples of Ottoman architecture reflecting changing tastes and styles from the late 15th century to the 'early 19th at Topkapi. During its most brilliant period, Topkapi Sarayi was inhabited by upwards of 50 thousand people -servants, soldiers, and government officials- in addition to the sultan and his family.

Hippodrome

The roughly-built pillar known as Orme Sutun was originally sheated in bronze plaques that were looted during the 4th crusade in 1204.

Originally from Egypt, the Obelisk of Theodosius is the oldest monument in Istanbul. The base, which is Byzantine, contains reliefs showing scenes from daily life.

Because of the blue-and-white Iznik tiles gracing the interior, the Sultanahmet Mosque is also known as the "Blue Mosque".

The site of the original Hippodrome, which extends away from the Sultanahmet mosque was laid out in 196 by the Roman emperor Severus. Constantine the Great turned it into a vast stadium capable of seating a hundred thousand spectators who watched horse and chariot races, gladiatorial combats, and other spectacles. The Hippodrome was where the heart of Constantinople's social life beat and also where popular displeasure was given voice and sometimes erupted into riots and rebellion.

Like other parts of the city, the Hippodrome was lavishly decorated with monuments and works of art of which only three examples from the Spina (the long structure running down the center of the stadium's course) have survived. The first an Egyptian obelisk called "Dikilitas" in Turkish is also the oldest monument in Istanbul. It is one of a pair of obelisks that were originally erected flanking an ancient Egyptian temple dedicated to Pharaoh Tuthmosis III to celebrate his victorious Mesopotamian campaigns in 1550 BC. The pedestal (which is Byzantine) is decorated with reliefs depicting the everyday life of the imperial families.

A second Spina monument that has survived is called "Orme Sutun" in Turkish and is known as the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenetus, after the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenetus (912-59) who sheathed the roughly-built pillar of stone in bronze. The bronze plaques were stripped away and looted during the Latin invasion of 1204.

The third monument on the "Spina" is also the oldest work from the ancient Greek world to have survived in Istanbul. Known in Turkish as "Yilanli Sutun", the Serpentine Column was brought here from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. The shaft of this unusual monument consists of the intertwined bodies of three serpents whose heads originally supported a gold bowl measuring three meter's in diameter. The bowl disappeared long before the Christian era but the shaft of the column and part of the head of one of the serpents (albeit in a somewhat fragmented state) have nevertheless survived.

The Fountain of Wilhelm II (called "Alman Cesmesi") stands at what used to be the entrance to the Hippodrome. It was built to commemorate the state visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Istanbul. The fountain was built in Germany, dismantled, transported to Istanbul, and re-erected on its present site. It was dedicated in 1901.

Also:

• Ayasofya & Sultanahmet Cami
• Topkapi Sarayi & Hippodrome